Making the rounds of the nation's newspapers is an Associated Press story about tornado chasers: Amateurs in SUVs, equipped with little more than a cell phone, roaring across the plains to get the close-up experience of a tornado, even bringing their small children along. They impede researchers and emergency responders. Some have crashed and died, although none have been sucked into the sky and killed, yet.
As a certified player of quakespotting, I empathize with the tornado chasers. Witness accounts of fault ruptures are exceedingly scarce (two people watched the scarp rise during the 1954 Dixie Valley earthquake, for example), and who wouldn't love to see such a thing from a safe position?
At the moment, no one can predict big earthquakes, so no one is out there chasing them. (To chase small ones, try swarms and aftershocks.) But if prediction becomes possible, will a new thrill-sport arise around earthquakes?
Those who are in the life get to visit earthquake zones while the shaking is fresh. Of course they're experienced professionals, or at least they're training under expert guidance, but they get a rush too. Those of us who are farther from the inner circle feel the same urges, but we don't get to travel to the scene and gawk.
I live in the epicentral zone of the big future Hayward fault earthquake. If I'm around when it happens, and I survive and have the opportunity to make observations, I hope to be useful, unlike tornado chasers who are mere thrill-seekers who might sell a video for a hundred bucks. What advice would the experts give to us hopeful amateurs?
Earthquake swarm — USGS image
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